Celebrating Daddy-o in the Best Way

Daddy-o had a birthday this week and while his birthday was a day full of school and work, we surprised him with a pizza crawl in San Francisco scheduled for the weekend. I picked 4 places that offered pizza by the slice in 3 different neighborhoods to try and we had a fabulous day!

Besides the pizza, we also walked around a little between places (had to keep our appetites up so we weren't forcing pizza down by the end, haha.) It was an absolutely gorgeous day and we started in the neighborhood south of Golden Gate Park (Inner Sunset) and then went to the Mission District, so we walked over to Delores Park for the views. Also stopped by the Dog Eared Books for bit and picked up Amy Tan's Backyard Bird Chronicles for me (I offered to buy Daddy-o and birthday book, but he declined so I figured I should get me a book, haha.)

Exploring those two areas took all afternoon so it was basically dinner by the time we headed to North Beach for the final two spots. We had saved Tony's for this point because it gets such high ratings so I figured we shouldn't start with what was likely going to be the best pizza. And it was really good pizza.

And then we went to Golden Boy which was the most unique style of pizza of the day (more of a deep dish, where the other three were thin crust.)  We grabbed some amazing gelato to finish off the night before we headed home.

We didn't eat any bad pizza the whole day. Arizmendi Bakery only has one flavor a day, and the mushroom with ginger and sesame oil was surprisingly delicious (and the scone we got to split was delicious!) Tony's had an amazing veggie pizza with so many toppings and great, floppy, NY style crust, Golden Boy was good, but the overall winner was Hi Hat! Daddy-o loved the spicy vodka and thought the crust was the best we had all day, and their other pizzas flavors were so good, too.

The best part is that there are still so many pizza places to try so we can do this again! (And Tony is opening a new place in Livermore, so maybe we'll need to do this with a few of our local places when that happens, although I can only think of one other place that does pizza by the slice.)

Happy Birthday, Daddy-o! 

Happy Birthday, Daddy-o!

Someone got another year older!

After the success and fun of Bug's diner, the kids wanted to do another restaurant.

This one was Italian themed (and relied heavily on frozen Trader Joe's meals!) Bug made the menu, Bean was the waitress, and we all helped in the kitchen. Usually, the birthday person gets to pick their dinner, but we figured since this included both pizza and lasagna, which are Daddy-o's typical picks, we were safe. He got to have both, haha.

Peanut made his awesome hat and was so excited for Daddy-o to wear it all through dinner, haha.

And then, for dessert, he asked for the chocolate peanut butter cake. This is a family favorite, for sure.

Happy Birthday to our favorite bearded pirate guy.

 

All Types of Outside Time

Not a lot of pictures from this week, but lots and lots of outdoor activities. Besides the normal reading, eating, and playing games in the backyard, we had a few excursions:

On Thursday, Bean and I went to the protest in Downtown Livermore. It was a very positive experience--peaceful, lots of participation, and everyone was wearing masks. Social distancing was a bit harder, but we did the best we could. Bean was in a bit of a slump most of the week, with school done and nothing very purposeful to do, so this was a great mood booster for her. We're trying to get involved and stand up for something important. After the speeches at the park, we marched a loop that ended at the main intersection downtown and everyone took a knee for 8 min and 46 seconds of silence. It was extremely touching--it was a LONG time. Hard to imagine dying under someone's knee in that time.

I didn't take the boys with us because I honestly wasn't sure how Peanut would handle the whole thing. He's not doing very well around lots of people and he doesn't handle being hot and tired on a good day. But there is a car parade protest tomorrow that I may take everyone to so he can be a little part of this as well.

That evening, we got to swim for the first time this season. We have friends who are incredibly generous and understanding. They had invited us to swim in their pool, but when we explained that we weren't totally comfortable hanging out with people in close contact yet, they offered for us to use it without their kids swimming.  So we finally took them up on the offer. Bean and Bug spent a couple hours in the water while everyone else cooled off and then sat around the pool talking. 

Daddy-o's friend hung out nearby so they were able to have a good conversation. We're trying to get used to these new ways of socializing, and getting the boys comfortable with ways we can safely see people. We can't live hidden away forever, but we can be careful. That's what we're working on right now.

Friday, we went blueberry picking again. It was much, much cooler than the rest of the week had been, so we also went for a walk in a park near the Stanislaus River while we were there. I was joking that I was going to make the kids fall in love with Ripon so we could buy a house with a pool (much more affordable out there than in Livermore.) Well, there were a few pretty spots along our walk, but tons of garbage everywhere and the kids were not impressed, haha. I think we'll keep renting without the pool for now.

Saturday was another Bay Area Ridge Trail day. The whole family came and we did another 5.5 miles in the Oakland hills with beautiful views of the green canyons. It was a perfect temperature for hiking and there were a lot of hills so quite the workout. Best part--very little complaining from any of the kids, so it really was a lovely hike.

On the way home, I had to drop off something for my one science family that lives in Castro Valley. They are a the very top of a very windy road up into the hills and by the time we drove up and back down, Peanut was completely sick and threw up in the garbage bag. Poor baby. But it didn't stop him from wanting ice cream when we stopped at the Meadowlark Dairy a few minutes later :). Perfect follow-up to a good hike.

Daddy-o joined a couple of the other husbands at my usual Saturday social distance hang out. He's gotten to see friends 3 times in the last week, and I think he's really enjoyed it. The first few months, he didn't really talk with anyone in person for any length of time. We just keep teasing him that he needs to sit down while he talks because he gets so animated and is drawn towards whoever he's talking with. It's hard to unlearn many of our normal social behaviors!

Over the River

And through the woods, To Grandmother's house we go!

When we realized that the kids had the whole week off at Thanksgiving, we thought it would be fun to spend the holiday in Utah with family and friends.

And fun it was! We shopped, saw friends, hung out with all our Utah family, ate great food, and played lots of games.

We were able to squeeze in the Museum of Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point with friends one afternoon. We'd been there once a few years ago and the kids were excited to go back.

It's a fun place, with so much to experience and do. (Hang like a sloth, anyone?)

(I can't believe Bug was able to build this without anyone destroying it. Of course, right when he was about to wreck it while we filmed in slow motion, a kid DID come through and destroy it, but I was surprised that didn't happen every minute or two as he tried to build it.)

Thanksgiving day meant lots of food prep. I had come down with a pretty bad cold on the drive out (it was as if my body knew that I was slowing down and ready for a week of no responsibilities and no stress, so perfect time to be out of commission), so I stayed out of the way and let me kids step in. 

And they did a great job! It was fun watching them work with my mom and brother (and Daddy-o did all the pies, of course).

Peanut even helped with setting the table.

We had a great afternoon with my whole family--they all have Thanksgiving together every year, but I don't think we have been around for it since the year we got engaged.

Codenames is the perfect game for a big group with a big age span.

We had a lot of fun with some of the "connections" people were trying to make.  

This sweet little baby was teething and not having as much fun as most of us, poor thing. But we had a few happy moments playing together.

Friday was our last day and we were able to fit in visits with more friends (some of our favorite neighbors from Charlotte!)

and another round of cousins at their new house. We now have my whole family and two of Daddy-o's siblings who live in Utah.

And then Saturday morning, we woke to this! Not what we were hoping to drive home in. I started having flashbacks to February when the same thing happened as I was trying to leave with the kids and we had a very miserable first part of our trip.

But this time, the roads weren't quite as bad, and Daddy-o did the driving so I didn't have to panic :) 

All in all, it was a great week. I keep saying it, but we are so glad we get to see our families more often--we're pretty lucky with the people we are related to!

Field Trip Friday

A teacher work day in Livermore meant a homeschool field trip with all three kids, and friends--full day at the Academy of Sciences in SF, playground time, and dinner. I had organized this trip through the large homeschool organization that we belong to, but after a lot of interest, in the end, there were 3 families who joined us and they were all our good friends. Next time I'll save myself the extra communication and headache--just inviting our friends to come with us works best.

The rainforest was a hit with most of them. We love this place, even if it is a little warm and humid.

The butterflies and birds are my favorite part.

The aquarium is another favorite. We need to come here first next time because Bug has felt rushed and didn't get to see everything he wanted both times we've been here. Everyone's always hungry by this point and we end up rushing through or skipping huge sections so we can go eat.

I think the kids had a lot of fun doing this trip with friends.

The discovery lab is my favorite here. I wish that we had something like this out where we live--so much to play around with and learn from! It would be the perfect weekly science time.

And this color/life exhibit. Another favorite.

At the end of the day, we found a bonus experience. The museum commissioned a master Lego builder to design and construct this model of the museum. It is amazing! And it was really fun to talk to the woman who is behind this creation and her experience of working for Legoland doing their models.

Can't go without saying hi to Claude.

Most of our friends left early in the afternoon, but there were two of us who decided we didn't feel like battling 2 hours of traffic to get home, so we waited out the worst of it. The kids are always happy with a stop at Koret Playground, and then we found a nearby place to grab dinner, Street Taco (which was really good--have to remember for next time.) It wasn't too far from the playground, but did involve a walk back down Haight street and through the corner of Golden Gate park after dark, which was mildly nerve-wracking with all the kids, but also made for a fun adventure. It's all about giving these kids real world experiences.

Beach Time, Stickers, and Good Food

Beautiful coastal area!

 Tuesday was an adventure day. We drove up to Petaluma where the Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory offers tours. It was fun seeing the timeline of their stickers and finding all the ones I recognize from my sticker collection in the 80s.

We learned how they make stickers,

and collected a ton(and then the kids all bought more).

And then, we went to Point Reyes, where we realized that a stop at the beach was probably about all we really had time for with this group of kids. We'll have to come back for sure because there are a lot of hiking trails and I really want to see the lighthouse.

The kids ran and played for an hour or so, and I just took a million pictures. Beach pictures are my favorites.

And then, I realized that the drive home was going to take us through San Rafael, where we could get some amazing Puerto Rican food that I have been thinking about since we ate here 5 years ago with some friends. It was just as good as I remembered.